


Ankara

by smarshtastic



Series: McReyes Charity Week [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Cat Friend, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 03:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15922388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smarshtastic/pseuds/smarshtastic
Summary: The cat’s tail swishes but she doesn’t move. Keeping her eyes on Jesse, she lets out a plaintive meow. What little resolve Jesse had melts away instantly.=^..^=Jesse adopts a stray.





	Ankara

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jooos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jooos/gifts).



> This was written for [Joos](https://twitter.com/cloudraws) (aka cloudraws) for [McReyes Charity Week](https://twitter.com/mcreyes4charity)! Thanks so much to Joos for donating to [ECPAT International](http://www.ecpat.org/) \- an amazing organization that works to end the sexual exploitation of children. If you're interested in donating, check out the McReyes Charity Week page for the PDF of all the works that were created for this event! 
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](wictorwictor.tumblr.com) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/smarshtastic) ♥

Jesse doesn’t mind stakeouts. They might not be the most high-octane assignment - they usually involve hours of sitting in one place, watching a door or window or a van that never moves - but Jesse kind of likes it. It’s almost peaceful. He likes the rest of the striketeam just fine, but moments alone are so few and far between that Jesse cherishes any bit of peace he can get, even if it involves sitting in one place for hours or days on end with his eyes glued to a pair of binoculars. 

This time, however, Jesse isn’t alone. He was halfway through day two of his assignment in Ankara when he spots her - well, he didn’t so much as find her as she made herself known. She pulls herself up onto the tiny balcony outside of the room that Blackwatch had rented for the mission. Her little head pokes through the grating before she squeezes the rest of her body through. A pink nose sniffs at the lenses of Jesse’s binoculars. Jesse blinks. He picks up his head to see the scrawny white cat looking at him with wide green eyes. 

“Hey,” Jesse says softly. “You gotta move, sweetheart.”

The cat’s tail swishes but she doesn’t move. Keeping her eyes on Jesse, she lets out a plaintive meow. What little resolve Jesse had melts away instantly. He reaches for the packet of jerky on the table next to him. 

“Here,” he says, rustling the packaging a little. “C’mere, I’ll share with you if you stop blocking my line of sight.”

The cat eyes the packet. She’s underfed - Jesse can see her shoulder blades sticking out more than they should, and her fur is dull, patchy and thin. He rustles the packet again. She doesn’t move. Jesse huffs out a breath. 

“Look, it’s jerky,” Jesse says. He pulls out a strip and waves it at her. The cat’s eyes follow the bit of dried meat, but she still hesitates. Jesse sets it down at arm’s length, stretching even farther to give her more distance between him and the small offering. He withdraws his hand and pretends to go back to his surveillance. 

After a few moments, the cat slinks over to the strip of jerky and sniffs at it tentatively. She looks back at Jesse, but he keeps his attention on his tablet. Another few moments pass before the cat finally gobbles up the jerky. Jesse smiles to himself. Without looking at her, he reaches into the packet and pulls out another strip. He tosses it gently in her direction. The cat startles, inching backwards and away from Jesse. 

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Jesse says. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

The cat doesn’t run off, though. She eats the other piece of jerky. Jesse gives her another piece, more carefully this time. Slowly, Jesse gives the cat the rest of the bag. He doesn’t make any attempts to try to pet her - he just lets her eat. After the bag is empty, the cat settles in just out of arm’s reach, her paws tucked under her and her tail curled around her body. Her eyes close. Very faintly, she begins to purr. 

Jesse smiles. 

=^..^=

The cat returns every day for the rest of Jesse’s assignment. Jesse just so happens to buy some cat food at the local corner store - which he does  _ not _ charge back to Overwatch - and he makes a point of leaving a dish out for her. After she eats, she loafs herself nearby, eyes closing as she purrs, content. She doesn’t let Jesse touch her - she’s still too skittish - but Jesse doesn’t mind. He likes the company. 

On the last day of Jesse’s assignment, the cat doesn’t show up. He had gotten a packet of jerky to share with her, like a little going away present, but the usual time in the afternoon rolls by, and the cat is nowhere to be seen. Jesse tries not to feel strangely disappointed. He focuses on the last of his tasks and reports, even though he looks up every few minutes, hopeful that the cat will appear again. 

It’s late in the evening when she finally reappears. She pulls herself through the grates with difficulty. In the bluish evening light, Jesse can see that her fur is matted, crusted over with blood. When she eventually makes it onto the balcony, she flops down with a plaintive, pained meow. Jesse gets up quickly, nearly tipping his chair over in his haste. 

“Oh no,” he says, crouching down next to her to get a good look. She doesn’t have the energy to move away from him. She turns her green eyes up to his face, the hurt and fear clear in her look. “What’d you get into?”

The cat lets out another meow, her breathing labored. Jesse gets up and goes to his untouched emergency kit to find a biotic pack. He brings it back to the cat and cracks it open so the soft yellow light falls over her body. The cat watches him with a wary look but still doesn’t move. Jesse offers her a piece of jerky and though she sniffs at it, she doesn’t have the strength to take it from him. 

“It’s okay,” Jesse says, half to the cat, half to himself. “It’ll be waiting for you when you feel better.”

Jesse sits next to the cat as the biotic pack runs down. He watches as the cat’s breathing steadies and evens out. Her eyes close, some of the tension going out of her body. Jesse can feel himself begin to relax too. He gets her a little dish of water and a can of the wet cat food. The cat cracks open an eye as Jesse sets them down but doesn’t make any attempt to investigate. Jesse ducks into the bathroom to get a warm, damp washcloth - maybe she’ll let him clean her up. When he comes back to the balcony, the cat is lapping daintily from the dish of water. Relieved, Jesse crouches back down next to her. 

“Feeling better, sweetheart?” he asks. The cat makes a small noise and settles back down, curling around the fading biotic pack. Jesse gives her a little smile. “Yeah, you let that do its work. Are you gonna let me clean you up?”

The cat blinks at him slowly. 

“Maybe in the morning, then,” Jesse says. He sets the washcloth aside and reaches up onto the nearby table to grab his tablet. He settles back against the door frame to resume his work, glancing at the cat every now and then. 

Jesse must fall asleep at some point - he’s been working around the clock on this surveillance mission, it’s not surprising - but is woken sometime around dawn by a weight in his lap. He cracks an eye open without moving and sees that the cat has crawled into his lap and curled up. He can feel her purring. 

=^..^=

Jesse returns to the Swiss base the next day. He hands in his reports and takes the rest of the afternoon off. He spends the rest of the day gathering supplies: a litter box, food and water dishes, cans of cat food (the good stuff, even), and a few toys that catch his eye. He makes sure to get a packet of jerky too. He shuts himself in his quarters. 

“You wanna come out yet?” Jesse asks as the door slides closed behind him. The cat - Pearl, he’s calling her, after both her coloring and one of the outlaws in the Wild West Jesse read about as a kid - pokes her head out from under Jesse’s bed. He smiles. “Just me. Welcome home.”

Pearl retreats under the bed. Jesse lets her - she’ll come out in her own time. He sets up all her supplies and flops down on his bed with a paperback. It doesn’t happen immediately, but, eventually, Pearl finds her way up onto the bed and tucks herself into Jesse’s side. Jesse feeds her bits of jerky as the afternoon goes on. She rests her head in the crook of Jesse’s arm and purrs steadily.

That evening, Gabe lets himself into Jesse’s quarters, more or less unannounced. He and Jesse share the codes to each other’s quarters, so it’s not totally unexpected, but Jesse wishes he had had a little more warning this time. 

“Hey,” Gabe says as he kicks off his shoes just inside the door. “Sorry I wasn’t there to debrief you - there was a whole thing with a requisition order Shiga and Edwards put in that I had to iron out.”

Gabe flops down on the bed and starts to worm his way into Jesse’s arms, only to stop short when he finds Pearl already occupying his spot. He blinks at the cat. Her eyes go wide and she jumps down, scampering under the bed. 

“Uh,” Gabe says. Jesse scrambles to sit up a little better. He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. 

“Heh.”

“Was that a cat?”

“...Maybe.”

“Where did you get a cat?”

“Ankara?”

“You brought back a cat from Turkey?”

“Well I couldn’t just  _ leave _ her,” Jesse says. Gabe pinches the bridge of his nose. 

“Jesse,” he starts to say, but then Jesse interrupts him. 

“I know - I know it’s probably not regulation or whatever, but she was hurt and I helped her, and she’s so small, she doesn’t take up much room at all, and it’s not like I need to walk her or anything -”

“She’ll need shots,” Gabe says. Jesse closes his mouth with a snap. Gabe leans over the side of the bed to peek underneath. Jesse blinks at his back. 

“What?”

“She was a stray, right? She’ll need a visit to the vet for shots and a check up, at least. Maybe get her spayed, too,” Gabe says. He looks back at Jesse over his shoulder. Jesse blinks at him again. The corner of Gabe’s mouth twitches up. “I’m not going to fight you on this.”

“Isn’t it… against the rules?”

“Pretty sure we could get you special dispensation for an emotional support animal,” Gabe says. Jesse boggles, but Gabe is completely serious. 

“Oh...kay,” Jesse says. 

“You do want to keep her, don’t you?”

“‘Course I do.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”

=^..^=

Jesse wishes he had thought of this sooner. He missed the alley cats that hung around the garage back in New Mexico, and if he had known that there were provisions for this sort of thing, he would’ve jumped on it. Angela doesn’t blink twice at giving him dispensation for an emotional support animal; Jesse’s PTSD is well-documented, and he’s been diligent about his treatment. Gabe helps Jesse find a local vet clinic who gives Pearl her shots, and they set up an appointment to get her fixed once she’s put on some weight. 

Pearl takes to her new home like a duck to water. In fact, within weeks, she’s acting like she owns the place. Jesse is completely smitten and spoils her rotten. Gabe pretends like he also doesn’t adore her, but Jesse caught him slipping Pearl bits of jerky one evening while they were working on reports. She’s curled up in Gabe’s lap as they sit on the tiny sofa. 

“At this rate, she's gonna end up having to  _ lose  _ weight,” Jesse says, though there’s no hint of displeasure in his voice. 

“Mm, she can stand to indulge a little,” Gabe says. Jesse leans over and kisses him sweetly. 

“How come you’re so good with strays, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“You took me in, now Pearl,” Jesse says. Gabe snorts. 

“It’s easy. Both of you like food,” Gabe says. Jesse laughs. 

One morning on a rare day off for both Jesse and Gabe, Jesse is lying on his bed with a book, Pearl purring in his lap, while Gabe hunts for a clean sweatshirt. 

“Why couldn’t you have found a black cat?” Gabe asks. Jesse glances up. Gabe is holding one of his hoodies, which is covered in white fur. 

“She likes you,” Jesse says with a smile, looking back down at his book. “That’s why she lies on all your stuff.”

“Between the two of you, I won’t have any stuff left,” Gabe grumbles. Jesse laughs. 

“You like it,” Jesse says. Gabe comes back to the bed and flops down at Jesse’s side. One hand comes up to scritch between Pearl’s ears. Jesse looks down at Gabe, raising his eyebrows. 

“Okay, I like it,” Gabe admits. Jesse smiles wider and leans down with some difficulty to kiss Gabe. Gabe leans up the rest of the way to meet his lips. Pearl lets out a little meow of protest at being disturbed. Gabe pets her head again. “Don’t make that noise, you like it too.”

Jesse laughs and goes back to his book. Gabe ends up falling asleep again, curled up against Jesse’s side, Pearl wedges between them and purring loudly. Jesse couldn’t think of a better way to spend his day off. 


End file.
